SPIES and INTELLIGENCE MEN (5) - MONKS

While the Nuns of St. Mary Magdalene may aim to "dominate the battlespace" at the Autumn Big Game 2023 ("Big Trouble in Little Hereford"), their male counterparts make an appearance in a rather more subtle and unobtrusive manner - as a monkish "Intelligence Section" available to one of the players:

Obeying the general rule of "Intelligence Sections", here we have five monks "in monopose"
together with a separately posed "Leader" (or "Priest"). Although "monks" may be most
useful to Anglican inclined factions, these black robed chaps could equally be used
for those who are BUF inclined, or simply be declared "schismatic and rogue"
 and therefore useable by all.

The five monks "in monopose" are plastic figures from Eagle Gryphon Games, a US boardgame company. Eagle-Gryphon sell the miniatures used for their boardgames separately, and some time ago were selling "A Big Bag of Monks" from their Age of Empires III boardgame at spectacularly cheap prices - so cheap that the cost of shipping from the US to the UK was greater than the cost of the figures themselves (and that was before the spectacular postal price rises of late). See HERE. Needless to say, the Eagle Gryphon monks are spot on for 28mm scale (in fact, rather 'bulky" 28mm).

Eagle Gryphon Games plastic miniatures for "Age of Empires III"

The "Leader" of this monkish "Intelligence Section" is again plastic and comes from an equally unlikely source : the Pegasus 1/72 set of "California Mission Indians":

An excellent number of monks from the Pegasus "California Mission Indians" set.
Photo from the ever useful Plastic Soldier Review website

Although the Pegasus monks are supposed to be 1/72 scale (and the figures in this set recorded by PSR as "23mm" in height), they are in fact rather larger - almost 30mm ! It may be that the PSR height was a reference to the smaller California Indians in the same set - and given the poses of the monk figures, there is no problem "adjusting their height" (whether with a sharp knife or built up groundwork). Not as cheap as the Eagle Games monks, but still a spectacular saving on the cost of nine metal 28mm figures..

The black robed monks of Little Hereford - who will use them as their
"Spies and Intelligence Men" at the Autumn Big Game 2023 ?